discuss Imagine if domains didn't require renewals...How crazy would the domain market be?

[Jacks86]

Instead of all this serious talk, I thought it would fun and interesting to talk about how crazy the domain market would be if individuals were able to register domains, own them outright, and then never have to pay renewal fee's( or if they were only $1 renewal per year).

How much more valuable would domains be? Just think about it. Every single word/number/hyphen combination would of likely been purchased already and secondary markets would be just ridiculous if you wanted to buy in. But at the same time, would there be way less websites in existence because of the expensive initial cost of domains?

THOUGHTS!!

 

[S-B]

I think $8 per year for a .com is basically free. Why quibble over loose change?

 

[Jacks86]

I think $8 per year for a .com is basically free. Why quibble over loose change?

Sure, $8 is pretty cheap. But if you want to own 1000+ domains, the renewal costs add up fast. Unless your bringing in a 6 figure income, paying $8000+ a year just to hold some intellectual property with no guarantee of selling it or making a profit isn't exactly the best thing to do. But if you started domaining prior to the year 2000 and picked up 1000 strong one word .com's and you sell 5-10 a year at $1000+ a piece, then it' might be worth to hang onto that list.

Now spinning it into the hypothetical question I asked, if that same individual that has 1000 domains was able to now buy without paying renewal fee's, think about how much bigger their portfolio would be.

 

[S-B]

Sure, $8 is pretty cheap. But if you want to own 1000+ domains, the renewal costs add up fast. Unless your bringing in a 6 figure income, paying $8000+ a year just to hold some intellectual property with no guarantee of selling it or making a profit isn't exactly the best thing to do. But if you started domaining prior to the year 2000 and picked up 1000 strong one word .com's and you sell 5-10 a year at $1000+ a piece, then it' might be worth to hang onto that list.

There's a common misconception about the ability to make a profit in 2015 and on. Just because you weren't hand registering names in the '90s doesn't mean you can't make 6-figures a year domaining.

It's actually pretty easy.

It just takes the ability to learn, persistence, and the balls to take a risk.

 

[Jacks86]

There's a common misconception about the ability to make a profit in 2015 and on. Just because you weren't hand registering names in the '90s doesn't mean you can't make 6-figures a year domaining.

It's actually pretty easy.

It just takes the ability to learn, persistence, and the balls to take a risk.

It's easy to say this now with the whole Chinese domain buying Frenzy. Anyone that bought a 4L.com, net or a 4N-5N.com, net, org, co, etc. at the hand reg price is laughing right now because it's a money maker for them and it all took off this year. But it wasn't always this way.

The double edged sword here is that anyone that allocated time to buying good 1-2 word domains are getting a little taken by this because they won't get nearly as much recognition for their domains. There's only so much funding available at one time to buy domains in the world. The second you bring in a new popular category such as numbers into the mix, funds from the typical domainer get spread out. When I first started on here, domainers wanted 1-2 word .com, net org, now if you go to the buy section, it's either a LLLL or NNNN being asked for.

I get it, faster to turn what's hot in the market place. But there are lots of other things being overlooked. So to tie that into the thread convo, if you bought 1000 good 1-2 word domains and those are not popular with the market at the current time, you either have to give them away for cheap, bite the bullet and renew them or walk away with expiry and take a hit.

 

[S-B]

It's easy to say this now with the whole Chinese domain buying Frenzy. Anyone that bought a 4L.com, net or a 4N-5N.com, net, org, co, etc. at the hand reg price is laughing right now because it's a money maker for them and it all took off this year. But it wasn't always this way.

The double edged sword here is that anyone that allocated time to buying good 1-2 word domains are getting a little taken by this because they won't get nearly as much recognition for their domains. There's only so much funding available at one time to buy domains in the world. The second you bring in a new popular category such as numbers into the mix, funds from the typical domainer get spread out. When I first started on here, domainers wanted 1-2 word .com, net org, now if you go to the buy section, it's either a LLLL or NNNN being asked for.

I get it, faster to turn what's hot in the market place. But there are lots of other things being overlooked. So to tie that into the thread convo, if you bought 1000 good 1-2 word domains and those are not popular with the market at the current time, you either have to give them away for cheap, bite the bullet and renew them or walk away with expiry and take a hit.

This whole premise is patently false. 1 and 2 word .com's dominate the market. All this Chinese hoopla is just noise. It's not here to stay and it shouldn't be someone's primary business model.

 

[Jacks86]

This whole premise is patently false. 1 and 2 word .com's dominate the market. All this Chinese hoopla is just noise. It's not here to stay and it shouldn't be someone's primary business model.

But do you agree that it's taken away some of the 1-2 word .com momentum for now? I see 5N.com's selling for $2000+ like hot cakes and a year ago they were mostly available to hand reg. Imagine if that money went to 5-10 different 1-2 word .com's, would of been better no?

If we knew that it was strictly 100% Chinese buyers funds taking away numbered domains, I wouldn't care. But when you start altering a traditional domainers buying methods, it changes the entire structure of what has been going on for the past two decades.

I really really hope I'm wrong, but I will hate to see thousands of people letting 4L.com's expire after paying $100+ for each one and then being sour towards domaining. Why do I think this? Because it happened with the stock market and any sort of investment. For lots of new people, once you touch the hot stove and get burned, you never go back to doing whatever that was(in this case buying domains).

Individuals like yourself and I want domaining to keep growing and I hope soon there are bigger players that come forward and help tell the world about this other way to invest. Buying/selling domains is great, the price, the flexibility, almost anyone can partake because it's not too expensive. So we want to make sure that is has a good rep, not a bad one.

 

[S-B]

But do you agree that it's taken away some of the 1-2 word .com momentum for now? I see 5N.com's selling for $2000+ like hot cakes and a year ago they were mostly available to hand reg. Imagine if that money went to 5-10 different 1-2 word .com's, would of been better no?

If we knew that it was strictly 100% Chinese buyers funds taking away numbered domains, I wouldn't care. But when you start altering a traditional domainers buying methods, it changes the entire structure of what has been going on for the past two decades.

I really really hope I'm wrong, but I will hate to see thousands of people letting 4L.com's expire after paying $100+ for each one and then being sour towards domaining. Why do I think this? Because it happened with the stock market and any sort of investment. For lots of new people, once you touch the hot stove and get burned, you never go back to doing whatever that was(in this case buying domains).

Individuals like yourself and I want domaining to keep growing and I hope soon there are bigger players that come forward and help tell the world about this other way to invest. Buying/selling domains is great, the price, the flexibility, almost anyone can partake because it's not too expensive. So we want to make sure that is has a good rep, not a bad one.

You're confusing the wholesale market with the enduser market.

Sure, 1 and 2-word .com's have taken a back seat on the forums. However, the goal isn't to sell to other investors.

Why should I care about anyone else's money? They are welcome to invest in whatever they please.

Further, their is no "traditional domainer buying method." Everyone has a different strategy that ultimately works... or doesn't.

The only point I'm trying to make is it isn't hard to get into this business and succeed. If you are a follower you will get led to the slaughter house but that's the same in most industries. I started in 2012. Most of the solid domains, other than upcoming technology names, were taken 15 years prior yet I still turned this into a full-time job.

If I can do it... anyone can do it. Simple as that.

 

[Jacks86]

You're confusing the wholesale market with the enduser market.

Sure, 1 and 2-word .com's have taken a back seat on the forums. However, the goal isn't to sell to other investors.

Why should I care about anyone else's money? They are welcome to invest in whatever they please.

Further, their is no "traditional domainer buying method." Everyone has a different strategy that ultimately works... or doesn't.

The only point I'm trying to make is it isn't hard to get into this business and succeed. If you are a follower you will get led to the slaughter house but that's the same in most industries. I started in 2012. Most of the solid domains, other than upcoming technology names, were taken 15 years prior yet I still turned this into a full-time job.

If I can do it... anyone can do it. Simple as that.

Fair enough, I do agree with you that I am in fact mixing up wholesale and enduser buyers.

But I disagree in that you should pay attention to how people spend their money if your a wholesaler. Instead of someone wanting to spend $10000 to buy a handful of one word .com, net,org, they will spend that on numbers and that means more supply for word domains and therefore price falls. Basic supply/demand.

I also agree that with the right methods of buying and selling you can make this a profession and live well off it.

Anyway, that was a good discussion and I think we need to get back to the main discussion lol.

If renewal fee's didn't exist, do you think more individuals would hold much larger portfolios of domains and make it harder to be a domainer(in terms of higher costs and less choices to buy). Keep in mind that the average Joe doesn't have $10K+ disposable yearly income for domains.